Shrimp and Quail Egg Garden Salad

A delightfully fresh dish for summer, this shrimp and quail egg garden salad make a lovely lunch for two by itself or side dish for a potluck or barbecue. 

Since I was a child, I’ve loved quail eggs. Hardboiled with a spicy mayo dipping sauce, they are the perfect picnic food. But they are also very versatile and an easy, tasty, bite-sized way to add protein to a meal. 

If you are also a fan of quail eggs, you might want to check out a few of my recipes that feature them. 

• Spicy Sweet Soy Eggplant Tofu Quail Egg Stir-fry
• Scotch Quail Eggs
• Malaysian-style Curry Laksa 
• Deviled Quail Egg Shrimp Canapés 

Shrimp and Quail Egg Garden Salad

I happened to have some blood oranges in my fruit drawer so I used them in the salad and the dressing. Substitute regular oranges, mandarins or even tangerines if you don’t. 

Ingredients to serve two for lunch

For the dressing: 

1/4 cup or 60ml olive oil

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon mustard powder

Freshly ground black pepper

3 oz or 85g crumbled feta

For the salad:

1/2 heart of romaine

1 heirloom or summer tomato

1 orange

10-12 cold boiled shrimp, peeled, tails intact

10-12 hardboiled quail eggs, peeled and halved

2 green onions, green part only, sliced

Method

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the olive oil, orange juice and vinegar along with the mustard powder and black pepper. 

Add in the crumbled feta and stir. Set aside until ready to serve. Chill if it will be a while.

Wash and spin your lettuce leaves. Trim any hard ends and discard. Rip the rest into bite size pieces and spread them around on your serving plate. Cut the tomato into wedges and add them to the lettuce.

Peel the orange and cut it into bite-sized pieces. 

Scatter them among the tomatoes, along with the shrimp and halved quail eggs. 

Sprinkle on the sliced green onions. Give the dressing another good stir then serve it alongside the salad so each person can dress their own (especially if you think there might be leftovers) or spoon the dressing over the salad and serve.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 17th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter Q. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the Q recipes below:

• Food Lust People Love: Shrimp and Quail Egg Garden Salad 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Quinoa Idli 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Blueberry Banana Quick Bread 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Sourdough Quinoa Bread 
• A Messy Kitchen: Roasted Cauliflower Quiche 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Nectarine Quinoa Salad 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Shrimp Fajita Quesadillas 
• Magical Ingredients: Queso Dip 
• Culinary Cam: Quince Sharlotka 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Parmesan Potato & Zucchini Crustless Quiche 
• Blogghetti: Ham and Broccoli Quiche

Here are my posts for the 2025 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Roasted Asparagus Soup

B: Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

C. Jersey Royal Chicken Chorizo Traybake 

D. Small Batch Dried Apricot Jam 

E. Whipped Espresso Cream 

F. Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken 

G. Extra Herby Gremolata 

H. Smoked Herring Spread 

I.  Fresh Cherry Ice Cream 

J. Small Batch Strawberry Jam 

K. Kiwi Tomato Feta Salad 

L. Lobster Butter 

M. Milk-Roasted Chicken 

N. Nocciolata Swirl Meringues 

O. Jersey Octopus Ceviche 

P. Easy Pastina Soup 

Q. Shrimp and Quail Egg Garden Salad – this post! 

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Tattie Scones #BreadBakers

A traditional part of a full Scottish breakfast, savory tattie scones are easy to make and even easier to eat, dipped in sunny-side-up egg yolks.

We have very good friends who are from and live in Scotland so we get there to visit as often as we can. Breakfast out at a café means ordering a “full Scottish” which includes not only tattie scones but a slice of black pudding, two eggs, bacon (usually middle bacon, not streaky), a square patty called lorne sausage, grilled tomato and mushroom, baked beans and fried bread or toast.

One of those big plates will set you up for the day, not just the morning! I must confess that sometimes I bring a little baggie in my purse because I cannot eat it all and will save the bacon and/or sausage for later. 

Tattie Scones

This recipe is easily doubled or trebled if you need more tattie scones. Just cook the circles of dough one at a time and if you aren’t frying them again to serve, keep them warm in a slow oven, wrapped in foil. I used one large baking potato for this. If you have smaller ones, try to choose ones that will give you the approximate weight below. Do not peel!

Ingredients

For the dough:

10 1/2 oz or 300g floury potatoes, unpeeled

2 tablespoons or 28g butter

63g plain flour, plus extra to dust

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

pinch fine sea salt 

For optional frying:

2 teaspoons butter

Method

Put the potato in a pan, cover with water, salt generously and bring to the boil. Simmer until cooked through, then drain well on a cutting board. Peel off the skin as soon as you can handle it. Leaving the skin on keeps the potato from being waterlogged which helps make it fluffier.

If you have a potato ricer, push the peeled potato through it then add the butter and stir gently to incorporate the butter as it melts. If not, add the butter and mash with a potato masher. 

Add the flour, salt and baking powder to the potatoes and mix well to form a thick dough. 

It may look like it’s not going to hang together but if you take up a small handful and squeeze it, you’ll see that it will. 

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 in or 5mm thick. You can cut around a plate to shape it into a circle but I hate to waste dough so I just push the sides in a little to make them less uneven. It’s a rustic look but that doesn’t bother me. Don’t let it bother you. 

Dust lightly with flour and prick all over with a fork. I completely forgot the fork pricking so I did it when I had just transferred the tattie scone to the pan. 

Heat the remaining butter in a griddle or large heavy based frying pan over a medium-high heat.  

Fry the dough circle until golden on both sides (about 5-6 minutes). 

Cut into triangles and serve immediately, or cool in a tea towel for later.

Several recipes I found said to let the tattie scones cool then fry them again in more butter for serving. Since I made them one afternoon, I did that the next morning for breakfast with some bacon and eggs. 

I highly recommend doing this. The double frying is worth the time and effort.

Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s time for my Bread Baker friends to share recipes for our chosen theme of scones. Many thanks to our host, Renu of Cook with Renu. Check out the links below. 

• Filled Ginger Scones from A Messy Kitchen
• Fresh Peach Scones from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Gingerbread Scones from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Irish Scones from Cook with Renu
• Onion Cheese Scones from Sneha's Recipe
• Preserved Lemon Scones from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Tattie Scones from Food Lust People Love

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Roast Chicken Bacon Cauliflower Bolognese

This roast chicken, bacon and cauliflower Bolognese is rich and flavorful, putting your leftover roast chicken to the best use, a whole new delicious meal!

I must confess, and I don’t think I’m alone here, but I am generally incapable of going to Costco and not buying one of their roasted chickens. They are so much bigger and cheaper than grocery store chickens so I know that there will always be leftovers to make another dish. Often more than one! 

Our favorite is chicken salad with hardboiled eggs but it is followed on closely by any sauce to serve over pasta, sometimes creamy and/or cheesy, sometimes tomato based. And, then, of course, I must simmer the bones for stock/soup.

Honestly, priced at $4.99 since 2009, there is no bigger bargain that can be stretched to make a few meals than a Costco roast chicken.

Note to my friend Wendy and others who are vegetarian or have vegetarian family friends and family they cook for: Skip the bacon and set aside some sauce before you add the chicken and everyone can eat together! 

Roast Chicken Bacon Cauliflower Bolognese

If you have a little more or a little less chicken, if your cauliflower is a bit smaller or larger, it’s all good. This sauce is very forgiving on amounts and will still taste wonderful. P.S. Just to be clear, I am NOT being paid to talk up Costco. I just love that store, its staff members and their inclusive ideology.

Ingredients

10 1/2 oz or 300g leftover chicken (weight without bones or skin)

1/2 head cauliflower (about 1 lb or 450g)

1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

1/2 cup or 60g cooked real bacon crumbles

1/2 cup or 120ml red wine

2 cans (14.5oz or 411g) crushed or petite diced tomatoes (no salt added)

1 can (6 oz or 170g) tomato paste

2 teaspoon Italian seasonings

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 bay leaf

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground pepper

To serve:

1 lb or 450g of your favorite pasta, cooked al dente to package instructions. 

Grated Parmesan

Chopped parsley

Method

Pull the chicken apart into pieces. I like to make most of them a bit bigger than bite-sized because then they don’t completely shred while cooking. Set side. 

Blitz the cauliflower, including stalks, in your food processor. You may have to do this in two batches, depending on the size of your processor. We are looking for fluffy pieces like cauliflower rice, not puree. 

Chop and peel your onion. Finely chop it or since the food processor is already out, go ahead and chop the onion in it. No need to wash it between uses.

Smash the garlic on a cutting board with a knife. Give the garlic a couple of casual chops as well. 

In a large skillet or Dutch oven, fry the bacon crumbles over a medium heat for a couple of minutes. 

Add in the onion, garlic and cauliflower. Sauté until the vegetables have softened. I find this goes faster with a lid on but make sure to remove it and stir often. 

There’s a lot of moisture in the cauliflower and onion but it can still catch if your lid isn’t really tight fitting. Add a little water if you need to stop it from scorching. 

Add in the red wine and cook for a few minutes. 

Add in both cans of tomatoes along with one can filled with water. Stir.

Add in the can of tomato paste and the Italian seasonings. Stir until the paste has dissolved. 

Add in the bay leaf and the baking soda. Stir well them simmer over a low heat, covered, for at least 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. If you have more time, a longer simmer won’t hurt.

Add in the leftover roast chicken and simmer, covered, for a further 20 minutes. 

Taste for salt and add some if necessary. We are watching our salt, so I rarely add any in a meaty Bolognese. Even the “no salt added” tomatoes have natural sodium (adding 140mg to the sauce) and, of course, the regular tomato paste adds about 100mg. In this case, the cauliflower is pretty bland so I think it needs some salt. But you do you. 

Give the whole pot a good few grinds of black pepper and stir. 

Serve over your favorite cooked pasta with Parmesan and a sprinkle of parsley, if desired. 

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing one pot recipes. Many thanks to our host, Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures| Check out the links below.

• Bean and Kielbasa Stew by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Korean Style Beef Short Ribs with Bok Choy by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Pečena Piletine Sa Rižom (Baked Chicken & Rice) by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Roast Chicken Bacon and Cauliflower Bolognese by Food Lust People Love
• Sama Pulao by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Sukhi Roti Ki Khichdi by Sneha's Recipe

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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